A Journey of Transformation

Jesus Asking: A Lenten Series by Seedbed

Matthew 3:13-4:1: 

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” 

Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.  

When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.  

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” 

Transcript
Please forgive any errors in this automatic transcript. Thank you!

Our text today starts with after six days, Jesus went on a journey. That's my. That's my summary. He went on a journey with Peter, James and John. There's something about going on a journey that just has this feeling of transformation to it. It can be just a trip where sometimes I like to use trips as an opportunity to assess my my habits and my patterns. And I might come back and make some tweaks or, uh, on how I do my daily life. But I've also been on journeys that had a much larger impact on on my day to day life.

For instance, it was about three and a half years ago that we made the journey from Texas, where we had lived for seven years, where our first daughter was born, back to my home state in Georgia. Now, this was a very God guided move. We were. I was intending to stay in Texas for a long time, but I clearly felt God saying it is time to come back. And so we came back, and I was as much control in the situation as I could convince myself that I could be, meaning that I wasn't. But I thought I was in control. I had a job lined up. We we had a house ready when we got there. We had bought the house because we thought we were going to be in this city forever. But it turns out that journey from Texas to Georgia was only the start, as if it was two and a half years ago when the fateful day of the church I was at had their vote. Now, most of y'all probably know what that means when I say vote, it's it was the vote to whether to stay affiliated with the UMC or disaffiliate from the UMC. It's a big deal. Some churches, um, everyone wanted to disaffiliate or not disaffiliate. Um, but for a lot of churches, including the one I was at, it was tight. And in fact, we needed a supermajority to be able to, um, to, to leave the UMC. And we lost that by thirteen votes. Thirteen and that is not at all that was not the plan. That was not what we expected. Most of us, uh, that was not the plan that that's going to make it real difficult for this GMC pastoral candidate to continue in her plan to stay at that church for a long, long time. This is not the plan, God. What? That's. A lot of us were thinking like this wasn't the plan. You saw the notes. God, you knew what we were supposed to be doing. What are you doing here?

That was a really challenging season. I talk about it in jest, but it was a really challenging season because I was so sure that the journey that had led me from Texas to Lagrange was going to be a long new a new, long journey. And that is not what happened. And so when the vote was announced, it was about a month and a half till everything at that church changed, including several staff members, including myself, leaving. And as soon as I was off the staff, it was just happened to be how it lined up. I went to Kentucky to go to a class at Asbury Theological Seminary. Amazing Wesleyan Seminary, by the way. And I hopped on a plane, and it felt like I was just flying away from all my expectations, all my everything that I thought was going to happen. And I was just had this sense of, uh, this this is basically my prayers. Dear God, what in the world was that? This was not the plan.

Now, I do want to be really clear. I'm talking about the UMC here. Um, I hold no resentment for the UMC. They made their choices. We've made ours. That's fine. We can all move on, and we can see how God will use both our churches. And I think that's great. But it was a really challenging season when that split was happening. But it's part of my journey.

And so I flew off to Kentucky to take this class, and this class was on Methodist history. So I'm transitioning from one denomination to a new denomination, and then I'm going to take a class about all of Methodist history from John Wesley, all the way to the newly formed GMC. It was quite the experience with everything I had going on, and yet it was a way that God began to transform me in that challenging season. And I wonder, have you ever been on a journey that changed your life? Maybe it was a trip. Maybe it was a vacation. Maybe it was a life change like I just described. Have you been on a journey that changed your life?

Well, that is exactly the kind of journey that Peter, James and John find themselves on now. Surely Peter, James and John knew that their current journey being the disciples of Jesus the Messiah, is exceptional all by itself, right? That's exceptional to be one of twelve people, or in this case, three of twelve people who were selected by Jesus the Messiah. You happen to be born at the right time in history, happened to be God made you born at the right time of history. You got to be part of this. So their everyday life is already a pretty incredible journey in and of itself. But, you know, even when you're living in incredible circumstances, sometimes they do become kind of normal. And so they're off on a stroll with the Messiah casually. And they suddenly Jesus Changes before their eyes. Suddenly he is white and shining. And there's two other men with him who for some reason, you know, are Moses and Elijah. Even though you don't know how you know that, um, you don't know how you know that, but you know they are, and you're not sure why, but you're not quite sure what's happening. It's all rather astounding. So you're taking in the majesty of being Jesus disciples, and then boom, there's Transfiguration. The next slide shows what that could have looked like for us.

And so what do you do in that moment? When Jesus, the Messiah, who you've been following, which is already exceptional, transforms before your eyes, and then Moses and Elijah are there too. What do you do? Do you stand there with your jaw just on the floor, in shock? Do you rub your eyes or slap yourself and try to make sure you're really awake? Because this sure seems like a dream. Or on a mountaintop that includes includes Moses, Elijah, and Jesus himself. Do you think I'm going to take control of this situation? Which is exactly what Peter does.

Oh, it's so good that we're here. Jesus. So we can build you tents that he doesn't know what to do. I'm quite sure I love Peter, he's so relatable. We see Peter and he is in many ways. He's so prideful and yet he wants to submit to Jesus. He he's a take control kind of person. Even though Jesus is trying to teach him how to let go of that. And I just really relate to Peter because it gives me hope that if Jesus can sanctify that guy, he can sanctify me too. And so I love Peter. Uh, and I love that he doesn't know what to do. So he's like, I'm going to see what I can control. And I guess I'll build us some tents And I just love it. Uh, and it's so much like what we've been talking about these last few weeks of self-improvement. I am going to control my world because I can understand it. I am going to control my world. I mean, this is already a good situation. I'm going to make it better. I'm going to make it even better. I'm going to build tents.

But remember, the goal of a transformation. The goal of our relationship with Jesus Christ is not for him to make bad people good or even good people better. He is making all of us who live in sin dead people alive. You can't be good or bad or great when you're dead. He's here to make us alive. And so Peter's trying to figure out how to control the situation. And what I love is that God just interrupts him. The father doesn't even let him finish. He just talks right on top of him because it says while he was still speaking, We get a word from the father. Now, what is this word, this? This transfiguration word? It comes from the word Metamorpho. That's a fun one, right? Can you say Metamorpho? That was. That was good. Metamorpho. I like that word. Um, it it's a word that appears twice more outside the Gospels. And it refers to who and what we are becoming. It does mean transformation, whether visibly like Jesus or even like our water bottle. That was an excellent example. A visible change or a change inwardly, which actually water bottles are a great example of that too, because the water is changed forever, it has a sweeter taste. Now with that, the flavoring in it. And isn't that so often true? When we're changed outwardly, it's because there's been something happening on the inside. And so for Jesus, yes, he was certainly changed visibly. But what else can we learn about this word? It's only used a few times, two times outside the Gospels and then in various versions of this story. So really only three times. So we have Romans twelve two where Paul says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind and surrender to God. That's my paraphrase. I put these verses in your bulletin, because I hope that you're able to go back and look at this, study it, go back and don't just read Romans twelve two and the one I'm about to read, second Corinthians three eighteen, read the verses around it, see if you can glean what? Metamorpho. Transformation. Transfiguration.

Of course we get metamorphosis from this might mean in the context of those verses, so I hope you'll look those up. And then second Corinthians three eighteen and we all, who with unveiled vases contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory. This rather sounds like the story of Transfiguration. This is Paul saying we are going to have this kind of dramatic transformation if we allow God to transform us, if we allow God to transform us. And that's the thing. Transformation is not a do better kind of thing. It's not do more spiritual disciplines. It's not try harder to make sure you're reading your Bible every day. No. Is it good to read your Bible? Yes. Our spiritual disciplines. Good, yes. Is it good to to be in fellowship with one another? Of course it is. But the goal is to allow Jesus to transform us. And that's not something we can just force ourselves. That's the self-improvement that's trying to become good from bad or great from good. Transformation is something that happens to us because of who is in us. It doesn't come from activity, it doesn't come from passivity. It comes from receptivity of the only one who can make us truly alive. And I put that in your your sermon notes, too, because I want you to be thinking of that as you're going through those verses.

Transformation is not from activity. It's not from passivity. It comes from receptivity of the only one who can make us truly alive. Not better, not okay, not fine alive. The only one. And this is what Peter experiences. He goes from trying to take control of the situation to after God speaks, it says they fell face down to the ground, terrified. There was nothing Peter could do in that moment when he heard the voice of the father. He could any semblance of control. He had any amount of of of taking charge of the situation that he had was gone. At the voice of the father. And they all fell down to the ground, terrified. And again, I love Peter because I can relate to him. I don't understand what's happening. And so I'm going to try to control something. And God doesn't even let him finish. He just he just says, no, that's not what's happening right now. You need to be paying attention to Jesus.

But that's more of what we'll talk about next week. We'll talk about God's words, the father's words next week. And too often I think we we think the transformation story, this transfiguration story is a really cool one time event. And we figure if it happens now and then, someday we'll be transfigured and transformed. We'll have glorified bodies. And that's amazing. But that's also kind of like a one time event for us. But what if we think that this is just the normal part of being a Christian, is that we're submitting ourselves to transformation? What if a normal part of being a Christian is having that blinding flash and hearing a voice and suddenly saying, okay, maybe I need to be listening to God more than running my mouth. I recently said to one of my children, God gave you two eyes, two ears, one mouth. Um, so how about you use the first four before the last one? And I think God's thinking that, too. He's saying you have two eyes, Peter. You've got two ears. And yet here you are running your mouth. Look to Jesus. Listen to the father. Listen to Jesus and I. I'm just. I'm starting to get into what I'm going to be talking about next week, because I love the message from the father, but we'll get there.

But man, I do really relate to it. When I had my journey from Texas to Lagrange, I thought that was kind of going to be a one and done journey. And then we got our not fun surprise and questioned, where could God be in this? And then I spent a year, not sure what my ministry was going to look like at all, so I thought it'd be a really good time to have another baby. You know, that's not stressful. And then, in some unlikely circumstances, God brought me here. How awesome is that? It's amazing. And if I had had my way, I wouldn't have met any of you. And man, I'm so glad God interrupted me and did his own thing. man. I'm grateful. So grateful. So I wonder if you've been on a journey where you sense God is calling you. And this sounds bad, but I'm gonna say it anyway to shut up like Peter and surrender. Use your eyes, use your ears. See what God is doing and respond to that instead of your uncertainty.

So, have you been there? Have you been at a place where you've been receiving treatments, or a loved one has been receiving treatments, and it's just not working, and you don't even know what's left to do? Have you ever been in a moment where you had your dream job and it fell to pieces? Or you quickly learned this was no dream? Maybe a nightmare? Have you been in a place where the marriage you hoped for is crumbling around you, and you don't know what that's going to look like now. Have you been in a place where even when good things are happening around you, it's just so overwhelming you almost want to hide or try to take control? And so I want to know in that moment, what do you see? What do you hear? What do you sense God is doing in that moment? What is God doing? And sometimes we just have to ask that. And sometimes we ask God kind of aggressively, what in the world are you doing right now? But let's be let's just keep focusing our attention on God. He can handle our our attitude. It's okay. He can handle it. Just keep talking to God. Telling him what? What do you see? What do you hear? What is God doing in this moment? And then being open for transformation, which to be clear, is hard. It's a hard journey.

This is nothing easy about it. But man, God's good and faithful in ways that we just can't even imagine. And I love one of the last lines of the scripture. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. I had always glanced over that part before of oh, okay. So like the big moment was over and Jesus was left. No, in all everything they just witnessed, everything they just heard when it was over. Yes. What was left was Jesus. Because Jesus is enough. Jesus is all they need to see in here. Jesus was all they needed. And I think that's where I need to look.

In. My moments of striving and fighting and trying to control things is I just need to stop. Stop talking, stop trying, and just look to Jesus till I can see nothing but him. So I want to know, are you ready to see nothing but Jesus? Even if it means closing your eyes and just praying to him. Are you ready to see nothing but Jesus? And then are we letting him peel us off the ground? If we are in a moment where it all became so overwhelming, we fell to the ground just like those disciples, and Jesus comes over and peels them off the ground and takes care of them. Are we willing to let Jesus do that too? Do we know that Jesus isn't looking at us in judgment of why did it take you so long to figure this out? No, he's looking at you in love, going, wow, you. We've got this. I'm with you. I'm so proud of you for looking at me. And today, that's what we're doing in Holy Communion. We're ready to see Jesus. We're ready to stop trying so hard to control the world around us, to control our own worlds, even.

Instead, we're ready to let him peel us off the ground and we just look into his face. The circumstances are still there. Everything's still out there. Jesus was still heading to the cross, ultimately. But in that moment, they saw nothing but Jesus. And really, the rest of the disciples time with Jesus was learning that no matter what's happening around them, see nothing but Jesus. And so today, with Holy Communion, this is an excellent time for us to focus on Jesus, to receive his body and his blood. There is there's, um, I'll tell you, this is the blood of Christ shed for you, the body of Christ broken for you. And you'll say, Amen. But I hope as you pray, Maybe at the altar. Maybe as you head back to your seat, you'll say, Jesus, I want to see no one but you. I just want to see you. So again, I'll let the gospel writer have the last word here. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your son. I thank you that even though your voice put terror in the hearts of the disciples, you don't leave us there. Jesus is there. He pulls us off the ground. He says, come on, just just look at me. That's the point. Look at me. Everything's going to be okay in the end. And help us believe that, oh, God. In Jesus name, Amen.